Parents of students at East Forsyth High School in Gainsville, Georgia are agitated after the school’s principal was secretly recorded using the N-word during a meeting with a white student. As NBC News notes, the meeting saw Principal Jeff Cheney and two other staff members trying to explain racially offensive words to a white student.
“The goal of the meeting was for the student to understand that we must all be sensitive and respectful to others,” officials said. Cheney was unaware that during the conversation, the student was recording it and then shared it.
“Cracker is slang for white and it’s the antonym to (full N word), which is a very offensive comment,” Cheney said, according to the district statement.
“He immediately recognized his mistakes in comparing the two words and using the full N word. Mr. Cheney contacted the district office and met with the parents of the student to disclose this information, apologize, and commit to rectifying these mistakes in the future.”
In a statement to WSB-2 Atlanta, school officials said, “Forsyth County Schools believes that at no time and in no context should any variation of the N-word be used. Students and adults make mistakes; Forsyth County School believes that we all can learn from our mistakes.” When talking to the news network, parents were also shocked to hear about the incident.
“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” Chris King said. “We teach our kids to be right and teach our kids to be respectful.” Another parent spoke to the Forsyth County News after her daughter showed her the video from a group chat.
“My daughter is half Black, so it really upset her,” the parent said. “[I’m] angry that [Cheney] would feel comfortable enough to say that. Just outright say it without any hesitation right in front of a student. In front of anybody anyways, but at work and around children, and he outright just says the word. To me, that could have just as easily been my daughter that he did that to.”
Currently, Cheney will not receive any punishment for the incident.